Episode
Frontline: The Rise of ISIS
Overview
FRONTLINE investigates the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. As part of a special FRONTLINE series, correspondent Martin Smith reports from Iraq on how the country began coming undone after the American withdrawal and what it means for the U.S. to be fighting there again.
Details
- Series
- Frontline
- Season
- Season 32
- Episode
- Episode 16
- Air date
- 2014-10-28
Episode context
The Rise of ISIS is Episode 16 in Season 32 of Frontline. It aired on 2014-10-28.
Previous / Next
Episode 15: The Trouble with Antibiotics
FRONTLINE investigates the widespread use of antibiotics in food animals and whether it is fueling the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance in people. Also this hour: An exclusive interview with the family of a young man who died in a nightmare bacteria outbreak that swept through a hospital at the National Institutes of Health.
Episode 17: Firestone and the Warlord
What are the costs of doing business in a war zone? On Nov.18, 2014, FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate the relationship between Firestone and the infamous Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. Based on the inside accounts of Americans who ran the company’s Liberia rubber plantation, and diplomatic cables and court documents, the investigation reveals how Firestone conducted business during the brutal Liberian civil war.
More episodes from this season
Episode 14: Hunting Boko Haram / Ebola Outbreak
When the radical Islamist group Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in April, it sparked international outrage and worldwide pressure to #BringBackOurGirls. But now, FRONTLINE investigates evidence that in the fight against Boko Haram, members of the Nigerian military and state-sponsored militias have been committing atrocities against suspects, many of them innocent civilians.
FRONTLINE travels to the epicenter of the Ebola crisis to find out how and why the outbreak has spiraled out of control — and to track the fight to contain the virus’s deadly spread. With special access to teams fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone, FRONTLINE, in collaboration with the Channel 4 foreign affairs series Unreported World, brings you an up-close, on-the-ground look at how and why the outbreak is endangering civilians and health-care workers, overwhelming hospitals and getting worse.
Episode 18: Stickup Kid
What happens when we lock up juvenile offenders in adult prisons? “Stickup Kid,” a FRONTLINE digital exclusive, tells the story of Alonza Thomas — sent to adult prison in California at age 16 — and how spending over a decade behind bars impacted him.
Episode 13: Losing Iraq
In a special developing report, FRONTLINE examines the unfolding chaos in Iraq and how the U.S. is being pulled back into the conflict. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and military leaders, the investigative team behind The Lost Year in Iraq, The Torture Question, Endgame and Bush’s War traces the U.S. role from the 2003 invasion to the current violence — exploring how Iraq itself is coming undone, how we got here, what went wrong and what happens next.
Episode 12: Omarina's Story / Separate and Unequal
When FRONTLINE first met Omarina Cabrera back in 2012 for the documentary Middle School Moment, she was a struggling student at Middle School 244 in the Bronx. Today, she’s excelling at an elite prep school in New England. In part two of our July 15 hour on education, class and race in America, FRONTLINE revisits Omarina as part of our continued examination of a groundbreaking program to stem the dropout crisis in America’s high-poverty schools.
Sixty years after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, school segregation is making a comeback. What’s behind the growing racial divide in American schools — and what’s the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education?
Episode 11: The Battle for Ukraine / Syria: Arming the Rebels
FRONTLINE draws on personal and dramatic footage to reveal the deep-seated hatreds between right-wing Ukrainian nationalists with historic ties to the Nazis and violent pro-Russian separatists vying for control of the country.
FRONTLINE finds Syrian rebel fighters who say they’re being secretly armed and trained by the United States.
Episode 10: United States of Secrets (2)
The role of Silicon Valley in the National Security Agency's surveillance program is explored.
Episode 9: United States of Secrets (1)
The history of the National Security Agency's unprecedented surveillance program is investigated.
Episode 8: Prison State
There are roughly 2.3 million people behind bars in the U.S., with a disproportionate number coming from a few city neighborhoods. More than two years in the making, Prison State takes an intimate look at the cycle of incarceration in America, and one state’s effort to reverse the trend.
Episode 7: Solitary Nation
With extraordinary access, award-winning producer and director Dan Edge (Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown, Kill/Capture, The Wounded Platoon) takes you to the epicenter of the raging debate about prison reform. Solitary Nation brings you an up-close, graphic look at a solitary confinement unit in Maine’s maximum security prison.
Episode 6: TB Silent Killer
Tuberculosis was once thought to be a disease of the past. But with virulent new drug-resistant strains emerging faster than ever, TB — passed simply by a cough or a sneeze — is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease on the planet. In TB Silent Killer, FRONTLINE presents an unforgettable portrait of the lives at the pandemic’s epicenter.